2/21/12: Sanburn is eligible for the 2012 baseball draft, but only by the slimmest of margins. With a July 21, 1991 birthdate, he barely falls within the 45-day window following the June 4-6 draft where college sophomores may be selected. Coincidentally, Sanburn’s teammate, sophomore righthander Ryne Stanek, another potential first-round talent, is not eligible, though he is just five days younger.
That Sanburn is a legitimate candidate to be drafted in the first round this year is a development that not all scouts saw coming. He was a significant part of a promising Arkansas freshman class, though not as heralded as Stanek, an unsigned third-rounder from the 2010 draft, or corner infielder Dominic Ficociello, who would have been taken about the same spot as Stanek had he been considered more signable. Ficociello slipped to the Detroit Tigers in the 23rd round—11 rounds before the same team drafted Sanburn, as an outfielder.
Though Sanburn pitched and played the outfield, and also caught at an Indiana high school, the Razorbacks targeted him as a pitcher from the start, and he served as the team’s primary closer as a freshman. He had just as strong an impact as Ficiociello and Stanek did for the 2011 Razorbacks, posting eight saves and a 3.62 ERA in 24 relief appearances.
Sanburn carried that success into summer ball in the Northwoods League, where he was selected that league’s No. 1 prospect. Although he appeared in only six games for Battle Creek, two of which were starts, he posted a 2.33 ERA over 19 innings for the eventual NWL champions, while allowing only nine hits and striking out 24 during his abbreviated summer stay. Most impressive, he had command of his 90-94 mph fastball, which topped out at 98, and his breaking ball also projected as a plus pitch. By working as a starter, though only briefly, it gave Sanburn an opportunity to work on developing a promising changeup.
While Sanburn has been installed as the closer for the Razorbacks as a sophomore, and fits the profile for that role with his dominant stuff and aggressive, bulldog-like approach, his three-pitch repertoire should enable him to be used as a starter at some point in his career, most likely at the professional level.
Sanburn’s fastball is his go-to pitch, not only for its velocity but for the angles he throws it. It was consistently dominant in the 92-96 mph range in the fall and pre-season practice, and is a true swing-and-miss offering. His breaking ball looks more like a slider with its impressive velocity, but its hard, downer action resembles that of a curveball. His ability to throw the pitch more consistently for strikes prevents hitters from sitting on his dominant fastball. With an athletic 6-foot-1, 205-pound frame, he employs a compact, repeatable delivery and continues to make strides in developing command of his pitches.
For all the progress that Sanburn has made in his brief career at Arkansas, he was one of several Indiana high-school prospects that were largely overlooked in the 2010 draft. Only one player from that state, catcher/shortstop Justin O’Conner, a supplemental first-round pick of the Tampa Bay Rays, was selected in the first 33 rounds, and only five such players, including Sanburn, were drafted at all.
And yet that underappreciated Indiana prep crop could yield a bounty of early-round picks in the next two years, led by Sanburn this year, along with Louisville shortstop Alex Chittenden, Indiana shortstop Dustin DeMuth, Cincinnati outfielder Justin Glass, Vanderbilt first baseman Conrad Gregor, Indiana State lefthander Sean Manaea and Louisville righthander Jeff Thompson in 2013.